Time of the year to get a running start in the CultureWorks summer ESL programs

This may sound similar to the words legendary Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt heard at the starting line on his way to gathering eight gold medals in three Summer Olympics.

Close, but the three two-word, start-line expressions have nothing to do with Bolt’s multiple visits to the medal podium in Beijing in 2008, London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Or any other track and field event for that matter.

Winning a race, yes, but no gold medals will be handed out in the other London (Ontario), Ottawa and for the first time, Toronto.

But something every bit as important to CultureWorks students will be gained. Entrances to Canadian universities, rather than gold medals, will be the prizes.

The three summer ESL programs available

Be Ready, Quick Start and Fast Track are all names attached to current CWsummer ESL programs. CultureWorks Summer Pathways, as we will see, is a new program offered this year for the first time.

CultureWorks Founder and President Tina Bax explains:

“So it’s all about the pathway to university for students who either have an acceptance to university already or didn’t attain one and are looking for one in September in 2018 and they are academically admissible in most cases, but their language is not quite where it needs to be.”

The pathway programs have been in place at Brescia University College (Be Ready), King’s University College (Quick Start) and Fast Track (Carleton University) in previous years.

“Students still have a chance then to take this program and complete the pre-requisites for university and start university this September, instead of missing a term or some schools will offer them a program that is eight months long,” Tina said.

And there is the new kid on the block in Toronto, more specifically at Amberson High School.

Amberson High School and CultureWorks will be offering a new ESL summer program

New opportunities available in Toronto

“We offer it at King’s and Brescia and we offer it at Carleton, but this year we are also offering it in Toronto,” Tina said.

“It’s called Summer Pathways because Summer Pathways can take you to King’s or Brescia or Huron (University College), actually now.”

Summer Pathways is for the affiliates at Western and it is being offered in two sessions. The first six-week program begins June 22 and the second July 13, both on the Amberson High School campus in Toronto.

The first program starts early because several of the private high schools in Toronto finish classes in the middle of the June.

“We want them to be able to start their six weeks and then have a break and go home at the end when they are done,” Tina said.

The Toronto students at Amberson will get their letter of admission to the university at the beginning of the ESL program.

“This is a program that has not been offered in Toronto before. Students who are living in Toronto currently and have an offer or want an offer from King’s, Brescia or Huron don’t have to leave Toronto in the summer. They can wait and come in September with everyone else.”

London principal Derek Martin is looking forward to taking the CW summer program to Toronto.

“The big thing this year is that we want to do the same thing in Toronto. That is a new thing,” Derek said. “It’s a very exciting possibility there. Could really be an important part of our relationship with Amberson.”

Derek said he will be looking for staffing help in Toronto.

“We have to have teachers there. We have never done that before, so we are looking at possibilities there. Hopefully, we can tap into some of our former Oshawa campus teachers there,” Derek said.

Tina emphasized the Amberson summer program does have a distinct advantage for the Toronto-based students.

“I do think that when students come in the summer as a small group, they are really not getting that initial university experience that you are hoping for.

“I’m just not sure it gives you the best experience for a student, where this way they can stay where they are living already and where they have been living for years, some of them, and make the shift with everybody else.

“I think that’s really important, especially for international students. They want to feel like they fit in. So making the move when everybody else makes the move, gives them a better experience.”

Crossing the potential finish line together …

In addition to Amberson, CultureWorks is partnered with Brescia, Carleton, and King’s